MERGE TO GYRENE. 
521 
cases very perfect ; and the shafts (of coloured marble) were formed 
of single pieces, which added considerably to the effect produced by 
the costliness of the material. From these circumstances, as well as 
from the resemblance of the draperies in which the statues were 
wa'apt to the toga, it seems probable that this theatre was Roman ; 
but the execution of the capitals and bases have none of that dege- 
neracy of style which characterizes the works of the lower empire ; 
and we should be disposed to attribute them to the time of Augustus 
or of Hadrian, when Roman art was undoubtedly entitled to our 
respect, and (we may also say), in various instances, to our admi- 
ration. The whole depth of the theatre, including the seats, the 
orchestra and the stage, appears to have been about one hundred 
and fifty English feet, and the length of the scene about the same. 
The porticoes at the back of the seats are two hundred and fifty feet 
in length, and the space between these and the colonnade at the back 
of the scene is of equal extent. The whole building would thus 
appear to have been included in a square of two hundred and fifty 
feet, not including the depth of the portico behind the subsellia, 
which is at present rather uncertain, 'fhe theatre has been built, 
like many of the Greek theatres, against the side of a hill, whicli 
forms the support of the subsellia ; and the highest range of seats 
appears to have been upon a level with the platform from which 
it was approached at the back. On this level also are the porticoes 
behind the seats ; which would seem to prove, if other evidence 
were wanting, that the cunei were not approached by internal 
passages, of which there are no indications, but from the platform 
